


Daughter

by gabsmatos



Category: Gorillaz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 16:47:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16727163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gabsmatos/pseuds/gabsmatos
Summary: A sweet oneshot about Noodle and her relationship with Murdoc and Stuart.





	Daughter

Stuart was in the middle of one of his already known concussions. It was late at night and he couldn’t sleep. Murdoc had already disregard an interview they had the day after afraid the singer would wake up so bad when he was right now. Stuart silently cried out in pain trying to see if it would come out of his tears, of course failing miserably at this and just increasing the pain.

Murdoc had put Noodle to sleep and told Russel that he would take care of Stuart and he shouldn’t worry about that. Of course the drummer didn’t find the best idea in the world since Murdoc was really mean with the singer most of the time, but he didn’t object. His face was showing genuine concern and care, something the drummer wasn’t used to seeing. Soon Russel gave up arguing and went to sleep.

Before returning to the singer's room, Murdoc went into the kitchen, deciding to make tea for him. As much as he didn’t like the scent of peppermint, he wanted to see Stuart with a little less pain at least.

In a few minutes he came back to the room "Here Stu ... I hope it makes you feel better". He gave him the tea while the singer tried to sit on the bed and reach for things in the dark, since it was the worst idea in the world to turn on any light now or make noise when he was in a middle of a crisis.

2D didn’t expect Murdoc to come back with tea "Thank you, Muds ..." He mumbled, taking a sip and sighing. "I'm sorry for the interview tomorrow ...." By now he really thought the bassist would have been mad that he was upsetting the band with a silly problem like that.

"Don’t worry about it, there'll be others ...We’re famous, mate." Murdoc sat down beside him with a smirk. "I can’t insist on you feeling this bad..." He placed a hand on his shoulder.

"But Muds .... You can go with the Noodle and Russel .... You don’t need me to go ..." He took another sip, feeling his head exploding inside.

Murdoc raised an eyebrow "No way Dents, you're my singer and the album is yours too, if everybody can’t go I won’t too." Murdoc was still like that at the beginning, when he really wanted to make Stuart get involved with the band and lose his nervousness when it came to crowds.

Sometimes the singer became so nervous that he threw up before the shows and Murdoc who was in charge of soothing him, sometimes with a longer hug, sometimes with some words that made him sound like a recorder repeating any time he need. After some time he let Stuart choose when he wanted to go or not, and sometimes he would give interviews on his own as well when he overcame his nervousness.

At that time it was just him and Russel if Stuart couldn’t attend. This made Murdoc slightly uncomfortable due to Paula's incident that was recent and he wasn’t in good terms with the drummer. Noodle was young and usually didn’t have an interpreter, letting her to play with something or stay on the lap of one of them while they were interviewed. She always behaved well and earned candy for it, enthusiastically returning to play her guitar at the band's shows and rehearsals.

2D nodded, smiling "Thank you Muds ... That's very kind of you ..." He blushed.

"I try ..." He smiled. Deep down he was worried about everyone's well-being, even Russell's. Noodle was slightly sick that week and the singer wasn’t on his best days either ... He had to make the best decisions for everyone to get Gorillaz on a floar. And that was sometimes quite painful and difficult especially when you don’t have a fucking clue of what to do and never looked after children before, which for Murdoc, Stuart was also in that category.

"You don’t be mad at anything when it comes to me, do you?" he joked waiting Stuart finish his tea.

"No, not at all." It was unfortunate to say, perhaps, but very true. 2D admired Murdoc a lot to feel any anger or hurt toward himself even knowing full well that he deserved it. Once he finished his tea, he set the cup down before laying down with a small sigh, hoping to ward off his headache.

Murdoc rose quietly and picked up the cup to put in the kitchen sink, his head wrapped in thoughts. As he was returning, he heard a muffled cry coming from far away from the singer's room. Soon he thought it couldn’t be Stuart ... the voice was girlyer and more strident than his ... He entered the room of the youngest member of the band and saw her crying.

He didn’t know what to do or say, but the sight of a sad little Noodle made his black heart break. She didn’t know how to explain what she felt, but she probably was annoyed by the fever that didn’t go away. "Hurt?" It was the best way he had to ask her how she felt.

"Nightmare..." She quickly explained holding up her tiny arms for Murdoc to pick her up. The girl was probably having feverish hallucinations or something ... It wasn’t usual for her to wake up like this in the middle of the night out of nowhere. Then he medicated her for fever and placed her awkwardly on his lap, returning to the singer’s bedroom with the little girl sobbing, hoping Stuart would know better what to do in this situation.

Once they were there the girl said "Toochi ..." with a crying face. "Sorry, Stu ... I don’t know what's going on with her, so I brought Noodle here.." he hoped Stuart wouldn’t mind bothering him when he was in pain.

2D knew what to do immediately, moving to pick her up. He knew Noodle couldn’t say exactly what was wrong, so instead he did everything he could to comfort her. "It's okay, it's okay, you're safe ... nothing bad will happen to you. I promise…" He spoke quietly with the girl on his lap sitting on the bed.

Noodle smiled when she was held by her older brother. Murdoc smiled at them. "He's right Noodle girl, you're safe with us ..." he said looking at the singer. "I think Noodle is a gift that came to us bond ... somehow ..."

The girl just looked at them, not understanding anything, but aware that they were talking about her. Her little face was red and she was still warm, but now a little calmer. Memories of the nightmare slowly fading.

2D couldn’t deny that he had loved her so much since the first time he had seen her playing his guitar and slamming the wooden door of the Fedex box into Murdoc's face, blacking him out. "She ... I don’t know if she's a gift or not, Muds, but _I love her_." He said softly. “She is a good little girl, and deserves much more than we can offer, but ... I'm glad she's here. "

Murdoc poked the girl's nose lightly. "I just want to give her everything I didn’t have when I was her age ... I want to be different from my father ..." It was one of the first times he confessed it out loud.

The little girl laughed, feeling better. "Love, good..?" She repeated the same words, trying to learn a little more, sounding like the little parrot she was. Better than when he was repeating things like "Sweet Satan" that she learned from the one who told her that he wanted to do better. Noodle knew they were good things to say this time though.

"You _are_ different. You're a good person." Stuart said to the Satanist softly, looking at Noodle with a small smile. "Hm? Yes. We love you, you're going to be fine with us, I promise." He smiled at the monosyllabic girl.

Murdoc looked at the singer ... Stuart telling her that he loved her sounded much more genuine than himself saying. He didn’t know what real love was. "I just don’t want her to hate me ..." He said as he wiped the tears from the girl, they didn’t match his smiling face anymore.

 2D sighed and shook his head, approaching Murdoc to nudge him with his shoulder. "But of course she won’t, you're a father figure to her." He said softly. " _We are all she has Muds_." These words broke Murdoc's heart. When he was her age all he had in the world was a cursed father and an equally damned brother, that meant, _no one_. As much as they three were wrong and problematic they wanted to do what was right with her and that was all that mattered.

The girl lifted her arms to Murdoc, wanting his lap again. "Sleep?" she asked. Murdoc said "Sleep" back. Then he smiled at Stuart. "You're right ... and she's all I could have asked for a daughter ..." he said honestly as he got up and walked with her around the room to lull her. He put his hand in her hair. "I wonder why she was crying ..."

2D nodded, leaning against the wall at the end of the bed when Murdoc caught her in his lap. "Probably nightmares, she has them many times, about this I don’t know what to do." He said softly, wishing he could help the little girl.

Murdoc nodded. "Well, if I'm over thirty and still have nightmares ..." he laughed, the little girl yawned. Murdoc placed a hand on her forehead, was getting better. "I wonder where she came from too ... if she was well treated, if she had parents ..." He kissed her head and Noodle hugged him tighter. "Mu'doc ..." the little one also didn’t have the R pronunciation because she was very young.

"I don’t know, but I don’t think she has..." he said sadly. Not having parents was something that Murdoc knew very well what it meant. "She's safe with us, I'm not going to let anyone hurt her, Muds." He smiled as the pain subsided, seeing the two in front of him in such a cute moment. The girl wouldn’t grow up without a family and that was what mattered in the end.

Hesitantly, he stood up, knowing what would help Noodle fall asleep. He often played his keyboard to try to calm her down. Then, grabbing it, he returned to sit on the bed before starting to play to her.

Murdoc smiled. He enjoyed Stuart when he played, much more when he sang, but maybe singing now was too much of an effort because he was in pain ... Murdoc, since he didn’t sing, just started humming accompanying the melody that Stuart was playing along ... as he walked with her in his lap and lulled her. The girl was smiling from ear to ear with her "parents" resting her little head on Murdoc's shoulder.

He told Noodle into her ear how much he loved her. He didn’t dare say it out loud like Stuart, afraid it would sound untrue. Her reaction was a kiss on his cheek and a soft "Love" back. He immediately blushed and became awkward. She really felt safe towards the satanist and that was priceless for Murdoc.

2D smiled when he heard Murdoc hum, deciding to sing the lyrics in a low voice. That night he swore he would take care of his sister for as long as he could. She didn’t deserve anything bad in her life. She was a little angel, and in that room, they really looked like a family, something Murdoc _never had_.

He knew that Murdoc had to whisper to her only because he couldn’t open himself about his feelings, but the singer also knew he wasn’t lying. Murdoc always tried hard to take care of everyone, and in the end who wasn’t taken care of was himself. Murdoc even claiming not having a heart he had a big one made of butter.

Murdoc stopped the moment Stuart began to sing, and closed his eyes so he could hear the music better as he played. He sighed caressing the little girl's back and smiling. Noodle liked that too, murmured a "Good" in Murdoc's ear ... if she said it was good, it was definitely good.

2D smiled back, seeing the Satanist so vulnerable. Murdoc had never been so open to hear his music. After a while the little girl slept, Murdoc noticed that by the way she untied the tightness around him.

"Stu I'm going to put her back in bed, I'll be right back." he genuinely smiled, happy for all the help of the singer.

Soon the singer stopped playing "Hey Muds ... Don’t take her... Let her with me, in case I dunno, she has another nightmare or something ..." He said awkwardly. He really wanted Murdoc to stay with him, but he was really afraid to ask.

Murdoc smiled at him. "Of course Stu ..." And gave him the sleeping girl. When she touched the mattress she immediately missed Murdoc, whimpering a "Mu'doc no ..." softly and raising her arms again. It broke the hearts of the two man.

"I guess she thinks we're her parents, Muds ..." Stuart tried to joke ... "I-I wouldn’t mind if you stayed here ... you know I'm skinny and we have enough bed for everyone ..." He blushed wondering if Murdoc would curse him for his daring.

"I'll stay, Stu ..." He said quietly doing anything to see the two better, lying down next to the girl, who grabbed his shirt muttering something in Japanese that neither of them understood, but it sounded like a “thank you”. Murdoc lifted his head and smiled at the singer placing a hand over his hair and stroking it. His other hand involuntarily wrapped around the girl's small body, placing her more comfortably close to him.

Stuart smiled, happy that Murdoc decided to stay and threw the blankets over them. His arm rested on Murdoc's face and he murmured “Thank you” and kissed his forehead and the top of Noodle’s head. "Good night Muds ..." He slowly closed his eyes not needing Murdoc’s answer. He helped cuz he wanted. Cuz he knew Murdoc need much more help than him. His headache being a bit more bearable now so he eventually slept.

Murdoc had no idea what he was doing there that night, but he was sure it was right to see the two most important people in his life going to sleep with a smile on their faces _because of him_. He never thought he would deserve this. That no one would ever feel safe closer him. A solitary tear escaped his mismatched eyes.

_But nobody saw it._


End file.
